Rowan Kaiser
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Rowan Kaiser is a freelance writer currently living the Bay Area, who also writes for The A.V. Club, and has been published at Salon, Gamasutra, Kotaku, and more. He still occasionally finds Ultima VI Moongate maps and mantra notes when he visits his parents' house. Follow him on Twitter @rowankaiser.
Rowan Kaiser's Latest Posts
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Why Defiance's 'fun now, depth later' is great for MMORPGs
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. I had my World of Warcraft year. In 2007, when 'The Burning Crusade' came out, the game clicked with me and it ...
Mars: War Logs brings the resistance back to RPGs
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. I probably wouldn't have noticed Mars: War Logs except for the PR email I received which included a line about ...
Total War: Arena's ongoing quest to reshape competitive strategy
Creative Assembly has a good thing going with its Total War franchise. For seven games now, it's been remarkable successful at combining real-time tactics and turn-based strategy, making money and consistently expanding its studio. Their next game, Rome 2: Total War, a sequel to the most beloved ...
Two new indie RPGs tackle the genre's history, but only one succeeds
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. If there's one thing that would improve the role-playing genre, it would be a stronger indie community. The ...
Grandia: How a forgotten JRPG solved the problem of repetitive combat
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which primarily focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. This week, however, Rowan focuses on a forgotten JRPG: Grandia. One of the core issues facing most ...
Remembering the life and legend of LucasArts
LucasArts has become one with the Force. The venerable studio and publisher was shuttered by owner Disney yesterday, halting production on its games, including Star Wars 1313. Though the amount of content coming from the studio had been drastically reduced over the last few years – well ...
Rome 2 looks to continue building Total War's empire
Showing off a strategy game like Total War: Rome 2 at a convention can't be easy. With only so much time to show off to the awaiting journalists, games have to rely on spectacle. Yet the greatness of Total War derives from longer play sessions. There, the series' two halves – tactical ...
Mass Effect 3's 'Citadel' DLC demonstrates the franchise's messy, wonderful soul
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. One of the reasons that the Mass Effect series has been one of the most-discussed franchises of the generation is ...
Revisiting Reckoning: How Kingdoms of Amalur got the single-player MMORPG right
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. Recently, I decided to play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning in remembrance of its one-year anniversary this past ...
Fantasy strategy-RPGs and the limits of 'RPG elements'
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. In theory, fantasy strategy games should be my favorite kinds of games. I am certainly a fan of the fantasy genre ...
